


Willing to Relocate

by Faline (rubberbisquit)



Category: Jericho (US 2006)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-21
Updated: 2011-07-21
Packaged: 2017-10-21 15:18:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/226636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubberbisquit/pseuds/Faline
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Heather is NOT PLEASED about Beck torturing her very good friend, Jake Green.  Unsurprisingly, sex happens.  FLUFF.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Willing to Relocate

.-- .. .-.. .-.. .. -. --. / - --- / .-. . .-.. --- -.-. .- - .

 

Moonlight filtered through the church windows, spotted out only by the candlelight from the fleet of wax columns Heather was standing in front of.

It was late. After midnight.

She should have gone to bed an hour ago, as soon as she’d left Bailey’s.

But she hadn’t.

She’d walked almost a mile out of her way to visit the only Catholic Church in town.

She wasn’t overly religious; it had never been a very big part of her family life growing up, but there were times when she liked to lean back on the familiarity of it all. The ceremony and that feeling of peace she always had after praying.

The town of Jericho, especially herself, needed the extra hope tonight.

And for the coming nights as well.

She crossed herself and settled in a pew on her knees. Her fingers crossed and she closed her eyes, remembered words coming easily to her lips.

She liked this, this quiet calm that infected her in the sanctuary. It was peaceful and the world outside the doors faded in to the black the fall night.

Her eyes still closed, she finished the prayer. Here, in this comfort, she finally allowed her thoughts to fully wander over the last few months, the hell that the war had brought to their door steps.

It was mid-October now, the Civil War was still in it’s infancy of two months. It seemed longer to her, having started much earlier with the death of a Ravenwood Agent and the loss of innocence she’d managed to hold on to with ferocious strength.

The day Jake had been hooded in front of her and dragged away to be tortured had opened her eyes to the AS Army. It had shown her that the Major she’d become so close to, had considered a friend, was a vessel for disenchantment.

That day; the few that followed, were hard for her.

It was the last time she’d seen Jake Green. The last time she’d hoped that he would give her a smile and pull her close. Granted, she was fighting off strong feelings for the previously mentioned Major as well, but she never imagined she would forget about Jake.

She never imagined there would be another hole so wide ripped in to the fabric of her world that she’d lose that hope.

And that Major, the one she’d called friend, who’d tortured two men she held close, had spent the days since then trying to make up for that one mistake.

She could smile at it now, in hindsight. Major Beck showing up at strange times, in the repair shop after hours when she’d been working on the newer washing machines that she’d been overhauling to work after the EMP. He’d bring her hard to get parts; try small talk with her. Try to get her to open up to him again.

He’d shown up at her house a few times as well, always later in the evening and always with something hard to find as a gift.

Heather hadn’t wanted to accept any of it. Not out of a grudge against him but because she knew the local military needed those things now. Since they’d been declared openly rebellious against the AS Military they’d received little aide from either Texas or the US. They were too far from the border.

Jericho was on it’s own with a private army protecting it and a commanding officer that was convinced if he just tried harder he could make her trust him again.

She supposed that she was well past that initial shock of Jake’s torture. She had known something bad had happened to him when he was first taken. She knew that he was being held and questioned.

She didn’t find out to what extent though, until well after the fact.

A month actually.

Gail had told her, when they were busy canning the early spring fruits in the Green’s kitchen. And when the story was done, Heather calmly excused herself and left. She’d almost run to Town Hall.

Bursting through the front doors, she’d managed to thwack some poor private in the face with the wood and didn’t even both apologizing.

Instead, it was the sheriff’s office that was her final goal.

And the man sitting behind the desk.

Her anger, and his surprise at her entrance, made a silent stand off at first. And then she’d started talking. And berating. And before she knew what had happened she ended her rant with an ‘I hate you’ and a slap that had stung her hand and left an angry print in its wake on his cheek.

She hadn’t seen him again for a week after that.

In fact, she hadn’t even gone back to Town Hall to collect her things from the desk she’d been using. She asked Gail to do it for her. The older woman agreed happily, believing that Beck was finally seeing the full effect of his actions on the people he had become close to.

Gail had never said anything about the trip, only that she’d seen the Major, yes, and yes she’d said something. She refused to give any more information but seemed somehow more sympathetic towards Major Beck.

Heather couldn’t have given two shits.

The day he finally showed up, he was wearing civilian clothes. Well, mostly. Jeans and a tee shirt with a loose black fatigue jacket thrown on. He still had a gun at his hip however.

She wanted to slam the door in his face and tried to, but he’d put one boot clad foot in the way and refused to leave.

In the quiet of the church, his words rang loudly in her memory.

“This is war Heather. And it’s not pretty and it’s not polite. When you have an enemy, especially one that you can easily see, it’s usually better to shoot first then find out what the hell is going on later.”

She’d tried to hit him again after that one but he’d probably been expecting it. He caught her wrist instead and wouldn’t let go until she listened to him.

“I was wrong. I know I was wrong. I’ve already apologized to Jake and Eric and Gail and Emily Sullivan. Hell, I apologized to Gray Anderson. And that man doesn’t need his ego inflated any further than it already is.”

She had quieted and he released her. Withdrawing to the far side of the room, she sank to her couch. He didn’t wait for an invite, instead taking the recliner across from her.

“And now I’m apologizing to you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I put your town through this. I’m sorry I put you through this. I’m sorry I hurt your friends and I’m especially sorry I hurt you.”

Her chin had lifted, fractionally, challengingly. “Why didn’t you tell me what had happened? I thought I was your friend. You should have told me.”

He’d sighed, a hand raising to rub at his forehead. “I thought you knew already. That’s not the sort of thing one brings up in conversation at work.”

Most of her anger had melted away then. Someone had once said that she was far too forgiving for her own good but she couldn’t help it and never would be able to.

Especially not when he’d looked at her like he had with a strange mix of pain and begging.

“I wanted to tell you I was sorry before I left. I knew if I didn’t I would regret it and I would hate to never get back here to tell you. And to thank you, for everything.”

Her ears had perked up. “Before you left?”

‘The Texans found my daughter; I found out moments before you burst in to my office. That’s why I didn’t really react to your rant.”

“Daughter?” Her voice had squeaked, empty and afraid. “What about your wife?”

It was as though they were back in his office again, talking about the memories they cherished the most from before the bombs. Only this time, she didn’t like him quite so much.

“There’s no information on her. I’m not surprised, to be honest. A lot of people got separated during the lawless times.” He’d stood. Glancing out the window, he had sighed heavily before turning that knowing gaze to her again.

“I have to go. I found a farmer willing to lend me a truck so I can get down there. I don’t know when I’ll be back. Can I come and talk to you again when I do? I’d like you to come back to work-“

“No. I won’t work for you again.” She hadn’t said why. He hadn’t asked. He turned to go.

“I won’t work for you again, but I suppose you could visit. As long as you bring your daughter. I’d love the chance to meet someone new and exciting.”

Her smile was meant to be a good luck, a god speed, and perhaps a thank you.

The one he gave back to her was its own thank you and she’d never forget how her stomach had fluttered when she saw it.

She sighed and opened her eyes. She looked up at the crucifix and pursed her lips. She still had nightmares some times about the days Beck was gone.

He had hoped no one would notice he had left. He had put another soldier with his build, height, and coloring in his place to be a decoy.

But as soon as he’d left, New Bern had come.

Her nightmares were always the same. Loud explosions outside her door in the dead of night. Herself in her night clothes, wandering in to the street and being grabbed and dragged in to the darkness.

New Bern had gotten in and out of town in less than twenty minutes. They had gone for specific targets; Jericho’s windmills, their main food supply, and Heather.

They got all three and Heather found herself the guest of Phil Constantino once more.

The man was still ugly as sin and still ornery as hell. The first few days they’d just knocked her around a bit, telling her how much trouble she’d caused for them. She took it like a champ she liked to think. She hadn’t cried once, not even when they broke her pinky finger.

She’d spit at them instead, thinking of all the things in the world that she was angry about and throwing that anger, the full measure of her hate, back at them.

It had worked until they’d tied her up and thrown her in to a storage room.

No light. And no water. For two straight days.

It was a prison cell for her after that and continuous threats that she would be very useful, very soon, to all of the men. They threatened her with rape, and then taunted her about being left in that cell by her friends, again.

She dealt with the physical. She dealt with the deprivation. But thinking about being abandoned again in New Bern was her breaking point. That was her darkest period in captivity.

Heather had spent many hours, just waiting for Jake to come and get her, or Eric. She spent every moment of those two weeks waiting for someone to save her before it was too late. Before she gave in to the taunting and lost the last vestige of hope. In the end, it was neither Eric nor Jake nor anyone from Jericho.

It was Beck.

It was Beck’s tense frown she saw first after the gun shots woke her from a troubled sleep. His face looking haggard, like he’d just spent two weeks being tortured. His hands had shaken when he finally found the key to unlock the door.

Heather didn’t cry. Not in front of him. Not ever. She had followed him out of the New Bern jail and to a waiting humvee and didn’t say a word. She didn’t care to know when he’d gotten back and where Constantino’s men had gone.

She was done caring about anything right then and Beck had known. He didn’t ask, instead glancing at her frequently and barking at the driver to step on it. Straight the Med Center in Jericho he’d taken her. Her eyes, she was looking around at the world and it seemed empty.

The city streets were alive with activity. Citizens milling all around. The familiar faces of the Rangers greeted her when the humvee door opened and Heather was enveloped in their embraces when she stepped on to the pavement.

She glanced backwards just once before being led inside to be examined and found Beck looking at her with his head cocked to one side and his gaze worried.

Her friends hadn’t been able to save her, but this man she still wasn’t sure if she liked had.

Even though she was safe inside the church and happily months in the future from those dark moments when the world was lost to her, Heather still shivered violently thinking about it.

Life had started again for her with a shock and a nine year old.

Named Madeline.

She’d met Madeline, or Maddy as Heather was fond of calling her, in the hospital when she’d been recovering from her time in New Bern. Four days back in Jericho and she still wasn’t sleeping and wasn’t eating.

She couldn’t close her eyes without the walls closing in and the world collapsing around her.

Maddy was in the room next to her, the unfortunate victim of an underground slavery ring that had robbed her of her virginity, her ability to speak, as well as the integrity of her legs. She was laid up in full leg casts, waiting for bones to heal.

Heather had caught a glimpse of the tiny body lying still and silent during her nightly pacing and had noticed that the girl was awake as well.

Heather had knocked and asked if she could join Maddy. The nurses had relayed the girl’s sad story and her silence so Heather didn’t wait for a reply. She joined the young girl, sitting in the uncomfortable chair next to the bed.

Maddy was a beautiful child with long curling hair and wide brown eyes. They were expressive, more than Heather was sometime comfortable with, and in those first few days she’d seen more pain in them than she had in her own eyes.

She’d talked to the child, speaking in quiet tones and sharing fun stories she’d used as a teacher when a student had a difficult day. By the third day, she had Maddy laughing at least a little and she herself was feeling better, lighter hearted than she had since her return.

Her friends visited, but no more than once a day all in a group, as though they needed the support of one another to be around her.

Heather heard a man visiting Maddy once a day as well but had never seen him. She tended to visit Maddy later in the evening, when the both of them were kept awake by their demons. She had coaxed the girl asleep every night so far with fantastical stories o magical places.

When Heather coaxed herself to sleep, it was with fantastical stories of a better life. What would she do if she’d won the lottery before the bombs and moved to that Caribbean island she’d always dreamed of.

Where would she be if she’d stayed in New Bern after her dad had passed away?

What if she’d never come back to the area after college, instead taking that inner-city teaching job in Chicago that had appealed to the crusader in her?

Every fantasy ended the same way.

She wouldn’t have met Jake. The thought saddened her but not as much as the thought that always followed that one. She never would have met Beck. And that thought brought a cold to her chest that she fell asleep with.

Despite the fact that he hadn’t visited and that she still hated him, she missed him. Deeply. She missed the small nothing conversations they had between supply requests and housing issues. She missed the way he could see everything in one glance and yet still be comically clueless.

She missed the yearning he had seemed to imbue in his glances at her. They had made her feel special. Wanted. It was, of course, forbidden given his marital status, but she had taken them home with her at night and cherished them.

She was hurting, both physically and mentally and wanted nothing more than a caring hug that her friends fell short of supplying.

On the eighth day, as she started the story of Puff the Magic Dragon, Maddy’s eyes went wide with please when Heather started singing softly. She smiled deeply, glad that Maddy was enjoying the story and she’d asked the girl if she knew the story.

Maddy had nodded emphatically and opened her mouth. Heather’s eyes widen as she realized Maddy was trying to speak. After a tense moment of struggle, the girl squeaked and exhaled then drew another breath. She opened her mouth again and spoke in a halting voice.

“My dad. This is his story.”

Heather’s eyes had stung with tears and she gathered the girl close to her heart, hugging her tightly. This child was such a strong girl. She released Maddy after a few moments and wiped her eyes before continuing the story.

It was a short ten minutes before Maddy was out for the night and Heather rose to leave.

She still had tears in her eyes, threatening to spill, when she noticed the man in the doorway, leaning against the metal of the door jam.

It was Beck. With tears in his own eyes.

Her sniffle broke the silence of the church like a gun shot and Heather squeezed her eyes shut, willing the wetness of her cheeks to go away. She could still see the look in Beck’s eyes when he’d found her with Maddy.

Could still see his deep inhale and exhale and hear his haunting words when he told her that they’d found Maddy in a bathroom somewhere in New Mexico chained to a radiator. Her legs had been broken because she liked to run.

They wouldn’t have been able to identify her if it hadn’t been for her birthmark, a large bird shaped mark on her shoulder. The men who’d been keeping her had bragged that more than one man requested the girl they’d nick named ‘Robin’.

Heather hadn’t been able to stop herself from moving across the room and hugging him tightly.

Even as his arms remained stiffly at his sides and his head pulled slightly back, she squeezed. Patient and understanding, she’d slipped in her caring role easily with him.

He hadn’t hugged her back. He’d waited until she removed her arms and stepped back before placing an arm on her should and whispering thank you.

In his other hand, he’d held a piece of paper. His eyes locked on his daughter, Beck informed her that he’d just received news of his wife’s confirmed death two weeks before his daughter was found.

And Heather’s heart fractured.. She wanted to hug him again. She resisted. He was impenetrable looking, even with tears dripping down his face. He dropped his hand and approached the bed, taking the seat Heather had just vacated.

She left the quietly and went back to her room.

Heather still felt that pain as vividly as it had been as she’d lain in her hospital bed, willing the world to be less cruel. She still felt the sharp stabs of another’s anguish as if it had been her own.

Her hand clasped the fabric of her shirt, over her heart and her neck bent. She let the tears fall, knowing that she wouldn’t avoid them. She never did anymore when she thought about that night.

Haunting words flowed through her mind. Beck joining her in her room after a while. Sitting down on the opposite side of the bed from the direction she was facing. He must have thought she was asleep. He’d whispered from her side of happier times and when his daughter was born.

Meeting his wife. Falling in love.

It was the after periods, when he’d whispered that he wished his wife could have been half as resourceful as she, Heather, was. Perhaps then she’d still be alive.

Heather couldn’t take the words anymore and rolled towards him. His eyes were wide and just as tortured as hers. She held out her good hand and he took it, squeezing it like she’d hugged him, with a desperate need to take away the pain.

It was that moment that had sealed her hope in a tight box and thrown it in to the ocean of impossibility.

There was nothing she could have said that would have eased his hurt; no comfort could be given verbally. So, she’d pulled on his hand and moved over in the bed. He looked at her, once more calculating and surveying.

His boots and socks went, as did his jacket. Together they’d held each other tight until sleep stole them away and the morning came.

The tears subsiding now, Heather’s eyes rose again and she sought out the candles, still flickering happily in the corner of the church.

The one she’d lit was burning lower. She’d been here for a long time, just thinking.

It felt good now though, to work through everything in one sitting. Her mind had been too disjointed the last month or so to actually make sense of the world she’d been traveling in. She tried, once, a few weeks ago, to think back on everything while she was drifting off to sleep.

She’d greeted the morning as it brightened her porch without having slept once.

Perhaps after tonight she’d get some peace when she remembered.

And it wasn’t that the remembering was all that hard, it was the making sense of everything. It was trying to make sense of the hardships the Beck family struggled through in the days following the knowledge that the maternal unit was never returning.

They were given a house in town, a few miles from Heather’s, and she tried to help as much as she could when she had time. Maddy had been in the casts for almost a month straight, getting around on crutches in an almost comical fashion and Beck had been mostly absent.

Heather was still doing what she could to help repair and rebuilt Jericho as well as reinforce it for the coming war.

She found time, however, to take that girl to the playground, pushing her awkwardly on a swing or just sitting around talking. And she talked plenty then. Once she found her voice again, she was unstoppable.

The one thing she wouldn’t talk about was her mother’s death or the two weeks following that. Heather would never press that matter.

But she had delighted in learning about the Beck family life that had been before the bombs. She enjoyed the childish views of the Major and the memories. It was like learning about a good friend’s childhood years after she’d met them. The new discovery was refreshing.

With the Major, Heather gave him a wide berth.

And she still dreamed about the sight of him rescuing her. Once she’d finally been able to sleep without waking every thirty minutes.

The day Maddy had gotten her casts removed was the day everything changed. The child, overly excited yet scared witless about the large saw about to approach her appendages, had grasped Heather’s hand on one side and the Major’s hand on the other.

And it was the moment that the saw finished the second cast that Maddy giggled and tugged chuckles out of the adults next to her. Heather looked at Beck, surprised to hear the sound only to be shocked by the sight of him smiling back at her.

She grinned. Unable to stop herself she grinned for all she worth and all the moment meant to the grieving widower and his daughter.

He had picked her up at home on the way to the med center and intended to drop her off on the way back, but she’d suggested the two of them eat dinner at her house that night, to celebrate. She’d pre-planned, of course, picking up enough food stuffs to make an honest to god home made comfort meal and had even found a cake mix box stuffed somewhere in the back of her pantry.

Beck would have said no but Maddy was too excited about the prospect of seeing Heather’s home. She was almost ten then, already too grown up for her age, but still wanting to experience life like it hadn’t been a tragedy so young.

He hadn’t a chance in the world against his daughter’s grin and Heather’s hopeful expression.

She’d treated the Beck’s to a meal worthy of a stingy Thanksgiving then broke out Monopoly, just to keep them with her for a while longer. She’d grown attached; she wasn’t afraid to admit that to herself. She was glad for it. These two were more worth her attention than others who were busy enough fixing the world and saving people.

The night had grown late without anyone realizing and Maddy had fallen asleep while Heather had argued with Major Beck about the cost of planting corn versus the delight of planting fields of strawberries instead.

They’d fallen silent when Maddy’s soft snores broke their light hearted banter.

Beck had stood and reached for his daughter but Heather’s hand on his arm stopped his movement. She wouldn’t have woken Maddy unless the sky was falling at that moment, knowing how hard it would be to get her back to sleep.

Beck had to agree.

Heather would broker no opposition on the matter, citing female maternal instincts for her reasoning which caused him to laugh and her to roll her eyes at his exasperated expression. She did however suggest they retire to the kitchen.

It was the kitchen table, she mused, that must have broken him. Talking until almost three AM about the ways of the world. It was that table that brought out his half of the story in full about his family. It was the kitchen table that revealed a broken marriage and an absent father. A child struggling in school and a mother unsure of what to do with herself.

Beck’s honestly was bone-jarring.

Almost as much as his kiss when he pushed her against her kitchen wall. She’d welcomed it, pulling him in then pushing him back so she could move to the counter; hop up and wrap her legs around his waist.

Heather was not an idiot. But, she was half in love and lonely and Beck had no title attached to his name except for Edward at that moment. When he told her to call him by his first name, between kissing her lips and kissing a trail down her neck, her heart did a somersault.

They hadn’t alerted the young girl in the living room when they’d gone to the bedroom that night but Maddy had caught on a week later.

She was quiet after catching them in a kiss in the kitchen, again of all places. Edward sighed and said at least they didn’t have to keep sneaking Heather out of the house before dawn.

Heather would have loved to have been able to laugh at that, but she couldn’t. She knew better.

When she followed Maddy, she found her on the back porch steps, her chin in her hands. The conversation she’d stumbled her way through then was the most half-assed lame explanation she’d ever made in her life.

Maddy was so wise, beyond her years. She looked Heather straight in the eyes and said, “I want him to be happy. And I want to be happy too. You too. We all deserve to be happy and if this will bring that, than I’m okay with it. I just don’t know yet.”

She hugged both Beck’s that night tightly, kissing them both firmly on their foreheads before leaving them to discuss this new addition to their lives.

Heather supposed that life would have been okay for the three of them. If the war hadn’t started and if the military that Jericho had adopted hadn’t been called in to action not even two weeks after Heather had started spending the night.

Edward had been morose, telling her about his orders from the Texan government to lead the charge in to Wyoming. It was a supposed suicide mission.

They made love that last night like two people starved for each other and continued well in to the early hours of the morning until he rose and donned his uniform. The last part, his cap, was on his head before he left the bedroom and she’d followed him to the kitchen. Maddy was already awake, knowing the drill that was expected when her dad was leaving her.

She gave him a tight hug and whispered that she loved him and he returned the sentiment. He kissed her forehead and looked her over for a long while, memorizing the way she looked.

He rose and stroked his daughter’s head before leading Heather out to the porch.

Heather’s arms wrapped around herself tight and she sat down on the pew behind her. Her knees were chilled and going numb and the memory of her desolation the morning Edward left her feeling colder.

He’d kissed her, deeply, and leaned his forehead to hers. He made her promise to take care of his little girl and keep her safe while he was gone. She’d agreed, in a heartbeat, and kissed him again.

And then he was gone and she had been alone again. She remembered feeling bereft as his humvee roared down the block until a small hand slipped in to hers. Maddy smiled up at her and assured her that her dad always came home to her, no matter what.

In the two months since Edward had left, Heather had kept as busy as possible with her repair shop as well as with a make-shift school. After the devastating winter and the confusion of switching sides mid Spring, a lot of kids were unaccounted for, but those that weren’t had gone back to school in September.

Heather sighed again and stretched her shoulders.

She had never tried to be a mom and a teacher before and she’d lost her patience only once with Maddy during school hours. Still not completely used to how insightful Maddy was, she’d been blind sided by a left field comment and had over reacted.

That had been yesterday and Maddy had asked to spend a few nights with her new friends, one of the girl’s Heather would have had in her class last year, if there’d been class last year.

That’s how she’d ended up at Bailey’s two nights in a row, drowning her worry and trouble in a bottle of beer while the man she was probably head over heels in love with might be dead. While that man’s daughter was incredibly upset at her.

She had come here to pray, she reminded herself. She had prayed for the guidance to help this child who would still wake up screaming without a family to lean on. She had prayed for Maddy, that she might forget or accept and move on.

She had prayed for the troops of the US and Texas who were about to lay siege to Cheyenne and the last stronghold of AS government and military. Tomorrow.

Tomorrow the war would end.

Tonight she was still alone and wishing she could just make some sense of the situation and have that loving hug that she’d been missing for the last two months. Or at least hear just one voice.

Hear Edward tell her everything would be okay.

She stood, crossing herself, and turned to leave.

The dark shadows of the church had hid the man when she’d entered, her eyes not quite accustomed to the dark from the streetlights lining her path here.

But she could see just find right then and she stifled the cry of surprise and joy that burst from her throat.

She started to run, dead sprint, for Edward, who must have been hiding in the shadows the whole time she’d been in the church. His smile lit up his face and he crossed the space between them just as excitedly as she did.

“How did you get here?”

His chuckle was music to her, his warm breath tickling her ear. “What? No ‘I’ve missed you and worried about you every single day you were gone’?”

She leaned back, looked him over once, and kissed him, pouring that sentiment into the contact.

He groaned, low in his throat.

“Alright then, why are you here?” Bringing up her hands, Heather framed his face.

He kissed her again, almost bruising. She felt his own worry and his own loss of not having her near. “The war is over. Cheyenne surrendered this morning. I left as soon as I could and drove straight through. Imagine my surprise when I got to your house at nine in the evening and you and Maddy were no where to be found.”

Her cheeks filled with color at Maddy’s name. “We had a sort of falling out. She’s at a friend’s house until she forgives me for being insufferable. It’s been . . . hard without you here.”

Edward chuckled again. “I know. I already talked to Mrs. Flynn and have been by to see her. She’s not upset at you anymore, by the way. She’s such a smart kid and she looks good Heather. You did great. Thank you. Thank you so much.”

They kissed again, entwined tightly. Heather knew she should have felt bad about kissing someone in a church when she wasn’t about to get married, but she didn’t care.

All that mattered was that she had Edward back in her arms.

”As for why I’m here, I guess you could say I was looking for answers.”

She pulled back, obviously confused. “What sort of answers?”

His smile was genuine and happy and infectious. “You. I came here for answers about life and who should walk through the door, smelling faintly of bar and fall, but you.”

Not one for fanciful prose, Edward’s words caused Heather’s stomach to fill with streaks of pleasure.

He raised his own hands, framing her face. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you. For two months straight, I’ve done a whole lot of nothing except think of you. The way you look when you first wake up and the satisfied smile you get when we finish appreciating each others bodies. The smile you save for my daughter alone and the one that you share just with me.”

She graced him with one of those smiles and his deeply satisfied sigh made that crazy feeling of pleasure exploded into euphoria. “I know exactly how you feel. I’ve been doing that whole ‘not focusing well’ thing since you left as well.”

“I can’t guarantee life is going to be easy Heather. I’m still a military man and my duty lies with them for the most part. Can you be a part of that too? Never knowing where I’ll be when.”

Heather kissed him deep, one last time, with her whole heart. “For you Edward, I’m more than willing to relocate.”


End file.
